Easy Red White and Blue Patriotic Ribbon Wand

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I heard a quiet mumbling coming from the other room. Jansen had been playing by himself for quite some time – so long that a quick check-in was warranted. I walked into his room, thinking he was acting out yet another scene from Star Wars.

There he stood, all 46” of him… in the middle of the room, waving the red, white, and blue ribbon wands we made yesterday. He had serious look on his face and his eyes exuded a maturity well beyond his five years.

“If tomorrow all the things were gone I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.”

I stood in the doorway, feeling like I was intruding on a private performance, watching him sing and wave the patriotic ribbon wands. His voice sounded oddly deep as he sang Toby Keith’s version of “Proud to be an American”. He sang with feeling and emotion. How he understood the depth of the song, is beyond me – but sing it, he did.

This post was originally published in June 2017 and it was updated in June 2022.

“Mama, you like this song? It’s from our graduation performance. I know all the words and it’s my favorite song. Want to hear the whole thing?”

I smiled and took a seat on his bed, as he started all over – again… feverishly waving his red, white and blue ribbon wands.

Everything you need to make Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Ribbon Wands:

Instructions of how to make Patriotic Ribbon Wands:

Paint the dowels bright blue and let them dry completely.
Paint three rows of white hearts on the dowels, leaving approximately 2” without hearts.
- (I do realize that the American flag has stars, not hearts… but I failed miserably at painting small stars – hence the adorable small hearts!)
Cut the ribbon into 20” strips. I used three red ribbons and two white ribbons for each wand.
Fold each ribbon in half and loop/ tie/ whatever them to the end of the wand that doesn’t have the cute white hearts.
Tighten the ribbon and fire up your hot glue gun.

Without burning your fingers (yeah, good luck with that!) place a bead of glue at the base of the ribbon knot, where it’s attached to the wand.
Allow this bead of glue to dry and then put another one on top, just to be sure the ribbon doesn’t slide off after being waved feverishly while singing
patriotic songs!
Once the glue has hardened, your patriotic ribbon wand is ready for some serious waving accompanied by whole-hearted belting-out singing at the top of your lungs.

Happy Flag Day, Happy 4th of July, Happy Memorial Day, Happy Veterans Day – Happy every day!

While we are celebrating the red, white, and blue, don’t miss this adorable American Flag handprint craft. You will want to save it for years to come.

I am very impressed with the wood products I have bought from Woodpeckers® on Amazon.
Their products lend themselves perfectly to crafts and DIY projects.
The wood shapes are uniform and without blemishes.
Their customer service is wonderful with personal attention to each customer.